Rohayem,1

Zeina El Rohayem

Professor Samar Temsah

AMST 275AI

13 December 2018

All the Way and Political Façade: LBJ and the Presidency

Lyndon B Johnson served as the 35th vice president of the United States of

America for president John Fitzgerald Kennedy. After three years of the elections of the

latter president, he got assassinated and consequently LBJ became president for the year

left of the presidential term. The movie, All the Way, speaks of the presidential journey of

LBJ in that year and his fight for the passage of the Civil Rights Act along with Martin

Luther King Jr., and thus leading to his re-election in the 1964 elections as a closing

scene of the movie. Actor Bryan Cranston plays President Lyndon B. Johnson; the latter

had vowed, alongside his Hollywood peers, to move to Canada in case Donald Trump

wins the presidential elections. The release of a movie that has its main actor against

Trump as a presidential candidate just before the elections hint that the movie had a

political rather than an informatory purpose. The movie was released on May 21,2016,

months before the 2016 United States presidential elections and just as the final image of

Obama as a president was sinking in to the nation’s head. In simple and spoken language,

it could be assumed from the end of the Obama era that the whites thought he was too

black and the black thought he was too white. Thus, Obama was not able to fully satisfy

both ends of the racial spectrum. The HBO movie was produced by Robert Schenkkan

and executively produced by Steven Spielberg. The well-known democratic and liberal

producer Spielberg had contributed one million dollars to super PAC priorities USA as a
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commitment to President Obama’s reelection in 2012 (Daunt). The latter is also known

for producing movies that represent his political beliefs and aspirations for the country.

The movie targets a mature and politically knowledgeable audience that can comprehend

the political bureaucracies and the legislative system that dictated the happenings of that

presidential year. It could be presumed that the movie targets the Electoral College, for

they have the characteristics explained above and would be influenced to vote wisely in

the coming elections and to reassess their judgement on the Obama administration. It can

be said that given both the political and historical context out of which it came out of, All

the Way is critiquing Obama’s political façade through the similar journey of Lyndon B

Johnson as a liberal president that had to put on the same façade in order to appeal and

placate both democrats and republicans because of the obligation to appeal to American

values and traditions, the necessity of a president to appear logical and strong in his

political decisions in front of the public despite being emotional about them, as well as

because of the built in presence of the strong and hard power drive in the character of the

Commander in chief.

To begin with, the political façade that President Johnson had to display was

constrained by an obligation of a president to appeal to the traditions and values of the

American people by focusing on hard work, fear of god, and love of family. The work

philosophy that was evident on President Johnson throughout the movie was that of hard

work, dedication, and determination. In multiple scenes, the president is shown to lobby

for his cause by personally contacting senators, judges, and lobbyists to convince them to

alter the history of the nation. In one of the scenes, President Johnson says the following:
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“No can do, Everett. Now, look here, either your people vote for this bill or you

vote with the segregationists and the country goes up in flames. Now, we're

making history here, Everett, and you have to decide how you want history to

remember you... As a great man, a man who changed the course of this country,

or somebody who just likes to hear himself talk.” (All the Way 00:54:20-00:54:53)

The personal effort that the president is shown to put in all the little matters of the

country convey how he idealistically represent the American value of hard work. Not

only did the movie focus on this traditional value, it also included the idea of a president

that fears God and believes in the power of the all mighty and omniscient creator. In a

heated fight with one of his officers about the riots in the country, President Johnson

stresses on the importance of reflecting within one’s self of who he/she is as a Christian

and that as Christian politician his officer is obligated to serve the people with the word

of God in his heart (All the Way 01:45:06-01:45:49). In this past scene, the president’s

note on how a politician cannot go to work every day without carrying along his religion

and its principles brings to the attention the dynamic and interactive relation between

culture and politics. One does not shape the other, but they rather collide to form a

political culture. Therefore, the integration of the two is the complex of feelings and

images, originating from home, the workplace, platforms, and popular culture (Street

145). As said by radical populists and postmodernist theorists:

“It is a matter not of attributing a higher or more sophisticated politics to one film

or song or program, but rather of penetrating the complexities of any given

example. Popular culture exits as the imaginative efforts of its audience.” (Street

161)
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In addition to the depiction of the president as a man who is very hard working and

fearful of God, the president is shown as a family man who is caring and loving. In one of

the first scenes of the movie, the President mistakenly screams at his wife Lady Bird due

to the tension of the aftermath of Kennedy’s assassination. However, the president is

shown to have shrugged back after he realized that he screamed and quickly talked nicely

as if trying to correct an abrupt moment of anger that was exposed as disrespect to his

wife (All the Way 00:03:10-00:03:35). Also in another scene the President is shown to

have accidently seen his daughter walk in the hallways of the White House, in that

particular scene the music unexpectedly changed into something that is heartwarming

like a baby’s lullaby and the camera focused and zoomed in on the President’s face, his

daughter’s trusting smile upon seeing him, and the sparkle of their eyes as they looked at

one another. (All the Way 00:55:24-00:56:10). Therefore, and although All the Way

appears to be elitist in its expectation of political knowledge of that time, it goes beyond

that surface to speak to the American nation that asks of a president to hold on tightly to

the values and traditions they want to pass to their children. Therefore, the engagement of

the president in morally questionable behavior becomes redeemed through a superior

value system (Crawley 38). The movie implicitly wants to tell the audience that Obama

was a man of American values and traditions, and that keeping that value system together

is far more superior than the actions that were questionable on his part.

Moreover, the political façade of President Lyndon B. Johnson was justified by

his portrayal as an enthusiastic and emotional president about the Civil Rights Act that he

was eagerly fighting for; yet had to keep his political composure intact in order to

resonate as politically logical and strong. The first time Johnson goes into the white
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office as a president, the lights dim, and the scene is shot from distance while focusing on

the president himself and giving little attention to all his surrounding, but the photograph

of Kennedy sparkles on one of the shelves. The focus on Johnson looking at that

photograph with his eyes filled with tears and agony proves to the people that the strength

he showed as he took the oath is only an obligation of the job (All the Way 00:05:00-

00:05:25). Also, Johnson is portrayed as the president who risked winning the democratic

nomination for the coming presidential elections in order to stay as true as possible to his

firm belief in the righteousness of the Civil Rights Act. Therefore, President Johnson is

on a quest that goes beyond elections, the office, and campaigns; it is a quest for reform

and the completion of the Legacy that Lincoln before him had started. It grew into a quest

for social and economic equality and reform rather than that of personal advantage. The

parties he worked with thought of him as a politician wanting to achieve a goal, but in a

scene where he explodes with emotions while he speaks to his friend and senator Hubert

Humphrey, the president is shown to be emotionally attached to the cause that he wants

to serve during his term. In that latter scene he says:

You know, that's the problem with you goddamn liberals... You don't know

how to fight. You say you're the leader of the liberal wing of the Democratic

Party? - Then show me some goddamn leadership! “(All the Way 00:22:00-

00:22:41)”.

The narrative of All the Way within the framework of such a quest narrative calls upon

the audience to have a say in the current political life through setting expectations of the

quests that Presidents should be after. This could be explained through the following
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“The actions and promises of politicians make more sense when they can be

framed as a part of narrative that people are familiar with and to which they can

relate. Such popular narratives invite expectations of possible actions, expected

opposition, and likely outcomes, and thus suggest a sense of success and failure in

the political process” (Zoonen 106).

The quest narrative and its visualization convey a message of connecting “politics” to the

country and to “the people”; in the literal representation of movement, images and

landscapes produce a symbolic message about political energy and the capacity for

change (Zoonen 110). This is evident in the movie through the calm music they display at

emotional points, camera focus when they are trying to let the audience feel the quest of

the president, and through the alteration of light in those dramatic scenes. In addition to

what have been said, the scene at which the president speaks for the first time in public is

of notable importance. In the production of that scene, the footsteps of the president are

heard to echo loudly as he walks in the house towards the podium. With each step, his

trembling voice narrates to the audience a story that he fears from his past and an

admittance of lack of self confidence in his ability to do great things as a president;

however, as soon as he utters the first word to the House, his voice is of solid strength,

his posture like that of a victor, and his speech as that of a fully confident man (All the

Way 00:05:55-00:07:10). Therefore, the usage of feelings in movies and the

humanization of the character of the president eases the deliverance of the political

message intended by the movie since things that touch people’s hearts is more readily

convincible to the audience, a matter that could be best said as follows:

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“The place where the film-politics association is most obviously displayed is in

the movies themselves: stories and visual images that make audiences laugh or

cry, feel anger or compassion, and occasionally, even deliver powerful messages”

(Giglio 10)

The emphasis on the emotions of a president that was believed to be strong, confident,

and purely logical brings closer the actions and decisions of the president to the

understanding and approval of the people.

Furthermore, the image of President Johnson as the Commander in Chief

legitimizes his drive towards hard power and military strength. The utopian depiction of

the President and his sacred determination to pass the Civil Rights Act do not counterfeit

that politics is an actual battlefield and that the savior of the nation is also the same

person that takes the nation to war. This could be said clearly through:

“Military images, metaphors, and narratives frequently dominate politics in the

United States. The word campaign is synonymous with attempts to secure

electoral dominance and military victory. Our election language is replete with

discussions of campaign “strategy”, “battleground states” and “war rooms”. And

emergent from the presidential election campaign is the heroic victor, poised to

lead the nation even as he has just survived the difficulties of political battle”

(Parry-Giles 43)

In a scene the president talks to a governor, and as they were calmly discussing riots and

what should and what should not be done, the diplomatic tone of the president disappears

and a harsher and far stronger one takes on as he threatens him with the following:
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“Well, now, I'd hate to have to send a whole bunch of federal marshals into your

state. Uh, well, no, you don't want to do that. Of course, I don't. You don't want

the publicity and I sure as hell don't want to stir up a mess just eight weeks before

the Democratic Convention. But there's a lot of pressure to do something. Now, if

you'd rather, I guess I can get a few FBI agents to look into the thing. FBI? Well,

it's a damn sight better than the federal marshals and the US Army, isn't it?” (All

the Way 01:08:00 – 01:09:05)

The attitude of the president is implicitly justified after he hangs up the phone by talking

to one of the employees and saying that the top priority now is the winning of the

elections and thus the use of his power towards that end is crucial at this stage. Also, the

movie does not overlook the importance of the Vietnam War that was taking place in that

year of 1964 nor overlooks the harsh personality of the president in foreign decisions as

head of state. Multiple scenes in the movie show real speeches that was given in that year

which fits smoothly into the allegorical dimension of All the Way that integrates the real-

life events within the course of acted scenes (Kellner 16). In one scene for example, a real

war video that was played back then was showed on a screen with Johnson’s eyes being

filled with agony over the tragedy of war, yet his commentary voice in the video says the

following:

“These are the stakes to make a world in which all of God's children can live or to

go into the dark. We must either love each other or we must die” (All the Way

01:51:00 – 01:51:23)

This integration of harshness in the tone of the commander in chief with his emotions

towards the war tells the people that being president entails a person to press his
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humanitarian weaknesses and look at the better picture for the American nation. The

integration of the elitism and sophistication of serious art with the interests of mass

audiences delivers the message across like no other (Girgus 7). Every scene of strength is

followed by that of tenderness, there crosses on TV pictures of the war in Vietnam and it

is followed by the president contemplating outside the window. Also, in a call to lie to the

people concerning an incident pertaining to the war in Vietnam, the consultant to the

President tells him that he has to lie for the people will believe him; however, they were

faced with a media leak (All the Way 01:16:00-01:17:20). It is as if that if the president

did not lie, he would not have won, and the Civil Rights Act would not have passed. The

justification of the necessity of war and strength to keep the United States held together

on both the national and international field appeases in the mind of the audience the

countless air strikes that Obama ordered on Syria when he was in office.

The term of a president is usually remembered alongside his major contribution to

the country, a major scandal he was a part of, or the occurrence of something new on a

national level during his time. Lincoln is remembered for the 13th amendment, Clinton for

the Lewinsky scandal, Reagan for being a former actor, Johnson for the Civil Rights Act,

and Obama for being the first president of color, and the list goes on like that. Given the

current focus and agenda of President Donald Trump, he will most likely be remembered

for being the first president to use social media as an official means of communication

and among his political agenda, that of DACA could be one of the most memorable. The

Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals protects those who entered the States illegally

when they were children. President Johnson fought for the Civil Rights Act with the same

eager and determination of that of President Trump in bringing DACA to an end. The
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battle that trump started nearly a year ago has taken a wild ride with the courts of

America. Federal judges blocked the administration from ending DACA and just last

week Texas Judge Hanen unexpectedly bought the program more time by holding off its

immediate halt. However, if Hanen ends up finding that the program is illegal, the

Supreme Court will have to sort out the conflicting federal court rulings (Kopan 1). The

latter judge also suggested that the Congress should decide on this in order to rightfully

let the nation decide on this widely controversial topic. While Johnson used his term to

push forwards inclusivity and equality among those who have taken from the United

States of America a nation, President Trump proudly used his to redefine the

righteousness of children who grew up in the States in calling that same nation home.

The image that the president builds in public for campaigns and through his time

in office may or may not reflect who he is as a person and what he truly longs for as a

president. The political façade that is displayed by presidents is constrained by the

necessity of representing American values and traditions, by the crucial need of showing

political strength and logic in public, and by the hard power that comes by default with

the position of the Commander in Chief. In the movie, president Johnson explicitly

speaks out about the confusion of taking the decision to satisfy all parties. He says the

following:

“Well, this whole mess is in my lap now. If I don't charge these bastards, then

King yells and I'm letting them get away with murder. But if I do charge them,

then all the Southerners scream about how I'm taking orders from the Negroes,

and all this two weeks before the start of the goddamn convention.

” (All the Way 01:14:00-01:14:30)

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This last scene reaffirms the argument that the president struggles to satisfy all parties in

order to get his political ambitions and aspirations to pass. Presidents say what they have

to say to get the votes, to pass bills, and to perhaps stay in office. It is the job of those

who listen to what the president says to make a call on whether to understand the

situation implied by the presidency or to merely asses the president according to ideal

expectations. President Trump provided the nation with plenty of material and

circumstances to judge, scrutinize, and question; situations that trespass the failure of

ideal expectations to simulate the failure of the minimal baseline of the language,

attitude, and inclusivity expected of a President. It was assumed in the past that political

shames and scandals are better discussed and communicated in public when the wound of

that shame wears off with the passage of the time needed to heal the wound. For example,

it was no coincidence nor was it a predetermined and plotted industry conspiracy that

only two movies were produced to tackle the historical period of McCarthyism and The

Red Scare (Giglio 73). However, the assumption made earlier could no longer be held

viable in the face of the shames that Trump brought into existence and the political

strength of Hollywood today. Spielberg, for example, unambiguously used the past to

strengthen our will to resist the present in his last movie, The Post. The movie that is set

decades before its release date could be as or even more relevant if it had been set at the

time of release. This raises an important question on how Hollywood will respond to the

era after Trump’s term comes to an end. A lot of the political, social, and cultural stances

that the President stands by today are shameful to many Americans and are things they

would never approve of. Will the Americans try to let the Trump era pass by without

trying to emphasize the mistakes and shames through globally admitting the broken
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structure of the American identity or will they revolutionize self-expression and political

freedom just like Spielberg have been determined to do?

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Works Cited

Daunt, Tina. “Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg Give $1 Million Each to Boost

Obama Super PAC.” Hollywood Reporter, 20 Oct. 2012,

www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/steven-spielberg-gives-president-obama-

381445. Accessed 9 December 2018.

Crawley, Melissa. “Communicating the Presidency on Screen.” Mr. Sorkin Goes to

Washington: Shaping the President on Television's the West Wing, McFarland &

Company , 2006, pp. 34–40.

Giglio, Ernest. Here's Looking at You: Hollywood, Film & Politics (Politics, Media, and

Popular Culture). 4th ed., vol. 3, Peter Lang Publishing , 2000.

Girgus, Sam B. “Ethnics and Roughnecks; the Making of the Hollywood Renaissance .”

Hollywood Renaissance the Cinema of Democracy in the Era of Ford, Kapra,

and Kazan, Cambridge University, 1998, pp. 4–7.

Kellner, Douglas. "Introduction: Film, Politics, and Society." Cinema Wars: Hollywood

Film and Politics in the Bush-Cheney Era. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. 1-40. Print.

Kopan, Tal. “DACA Alive, Barely, a Year after Trump Ended It.” CNN, Cable News

Network, 5 Sept. 2018, edition.cnn.com/2018/09/05/politics/daca-one-year-end-

anniversary-future/index.html.

Parry-Giles, Trevor, and Shawn J. Parry-Giles. The Prime-Time Presidency: the West

Wing and U.S. Nationalism. University of Illinois Press, 2006.

Schenkkan, Robert, director. All The Way. HBO, 2016.

Street, John. "Cultural Theories of Politics." Politics and Popular Culture. 1997. 119-
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146. Print.

Street, John. "Political Theories of Culture." Politics and Popular Culture. 1997. 147-

167. Print.

Zoonen, Liesbet von. “Dramatization: Plots in Politics.” Entertaining the Citizen: When

Politics and Popular Culture Converge (Critical Media Studies: Institutions,

Politics, and Culture), Rowman and Littlefield, 2004, pp. 106–119